, 1887-12-23
SHOOTING A sHARPsHooTER.
How the C~onfcderates Got Rid of a Danger
GUS Foeman at the Siege of Petersburg.

How the Confcderntes Got Rid OF n Danger
GUS Foeman ut the Siege of Petersburg.
AT points around Petersburg, where
the lines of earthworks were only pistol
shot apart, the sharpshooter piled his
murderous rife night and day, and they
became a living terror to both sides. I
was for two weeks in the Confederate
works, opposite Grants Fort He'll, and
although tons upon tons of Federal shot
n shell were hurled at us, we lost more
men by the bullets of the sharpshooters
than by all the c~annonading. In the
Confederate works, just above the fort
which Butler blew up and which has since
been known rs the Crater, the most effec-
tive mo was silenced for two days by
n Federal sharpshooter who ensconced
himself only n stones throw away. do not
know that tho one man held the place for
two nights and two days, but we judged
SO from the style of firing, and because
when VIC were finally rid of him no one
else took Ills place. He crept u from
the Federal line in n dark and rainy night,
dag n rifle pit, banked up the dirt around
it, n killed two of our men between
daylight and sunrise. He had a sixteen
shooter rifle, INT he gave all his attention
to ono cmbrasure in the fort and before
noon the piece of artillery at that en-
brasure was silenced.
y round dozen Confederate sharp
shooters were detailed to kill the fellow
Off, but he would not be killed. The dirt
was knocked about his ears in perfect
clouds by bullets, and now and then n
piece of filled artillery sent n shell plow-
ing along over him; but he was there to
stay. When night came we intended to
creep out and kin or make him a prison.
er, but lol n whole company was brought
up and stationed in the ravine lust be-
hind him, where their fire would sweep
the field around his pit, and we had to
u to some other plan. He was there
in the morning, and he killed one man
and wounded a second before 8 o'clock.
Three pieces of light artillery played on
his pit until the guns had fired a dozen
shells each, but he was unframed. 1t
was plain that he had dug his pit 80 deep
and narrow that everything from our side
must pass over it, and it was certain that
we must try some other plan. Had he
been without close support three or four
men could have solved the problem
pretty quick, but there were sh%arpshoot-
ers by the hundreds in his rear, and that
rear SO close that not n hat could show
above our works without being made the
target of q dozen bullets.
BY noon of the second day we had had
four men killed and five wounded by one
Yankee sh~arpshooter, and the colonel
commanding had offered a 800 gold
piece to any one who would finish him
OFF. He might have made it $50, 900 for
all we could do, as everybody had cud-
gcled his brains in vain for a plan. 1t
was about 8 O'Clock in the afternoon that
n corporal belonging to some field
artillery stationed q mile or 80 above us
on the lines came down to see a relative
of his, and when the situation had been
explained to him and he had looked over
the ground he said:
"Give mo an hours time and I'll have
him out and win that gold piece"
He returned to his command and Sc
cured half a dozen small fuse shells be-
longing to q mountain howitzer which
was then in park as of no account.
When they were brought up he made q
sling from the leather of a boot leg and
wo stout cords and then gathered a
dozen stones to practice with. While he
flung these stones one of the men timed
their fall, and in this way he knew how
to cut the fuses. The fifth rock, flung
high in the air on n curve, as a mortar
would throw it, fell so close to the sharp
shooters pit that tho corporal was salts
fed. He hen cut his fuses and began
throwing lighted shell. The weight OF
them was about thirteen ounces and
while they did not fly as high as the
rocks, the curve was the same. We
were all satisfied as to what the result
would be. The fourth shell dropped
square into the pit and exploded as it
struck, and in the cloud of dirt blown
out was tho sharpshooter's cap, the stock
of his rifle and his canteen. Not another
shot was fired from the pit, nor did any
Federal dare occupy it again.-"Ex-
Rebel in Detroit Free Press.